The UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) plans to recommend that the government places a countervailing duty of £257.80-303.56/t ($341.3-401.9/t) on US-origin hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), but it will not recommend this be applied retroactively at this stage.
The duty rate is set by company: Phillips 66 has a rate of £257.80/t, St Bernard Renewables of £258.10/t and Diamond Green Diesel of £265.82/t. All other US exporters have a rate of £303.56/t. Interested parties can comment on the statement of essential facts with the intended recommendation until 19 December.
Although the TRA will not recommend retroactive implementation for now, it said it will monitor imports and could change this recommendation later.
The TRA has also not recommended that provisional duties be put into place while preparing the final recommendation, which is expected in March. A provisional affirmative determination recommending the duties would typically be made to the government before or at the same time as the statement of essential facts.
The product scope is "biodiesel (or paraffinic diesel fuel/gasoil) obtained from synthesis or hydrotreatment of oils and fats of non-fossil origin, in pure form or as included in a blend, originating in the US. This biodiesel is commonly known as hydrotreated (hydrogenated) vegetable oil diesel (HVO), renewable diesel or green diesel." Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is explicitly excluded from the scope of the duties.
The TRA also terminated a simultaneous anti-dumping investigation. The three surveyed exporters — also Diamond Green Diesel, St Bernard Renewables and Phillips 66 — all showed a negative dumping margin, meaning the TRA could not prove dumping took place during the investigation period. To meet the standard for dumping, the export price would have had to be below the normal value of the goods. The benefit from subsidies is removed from this calculation to prevent double duties.
Both investigations started in March.
One primary US subsidy was considered to be "countervailable", according to the legal definition — the blender's tax credit (BTC). Using this to set the countervailing duty rate could be controversial. The BTC expired on 1 January and was replaced by the Clean Fuel Production Credit (CFPC), also known as 45Z. While the BTC was a fixed tax credit, the CFPC scales based on the carbon intensity of the fuel, and has been subject to a large amount of political confusion in the past year.
The TRA was unable to include the CFPC in the subsidy margin because the investigation period ended on 31 December 2024, but said it did take the existence of the credit into consideration when making its recommendation. It still used the subsidy rate from the BTC to set the recommended duty levels.
